The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-07-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Necessity Of Faith and Prayer
Forcibly Illustrated.


Tfustful Prayer Presented
In His Death.
the Brooklyn Tabernacle Rev. I. Dewitt
Talmage took that of the Necessity
Of Faith and Prayer" illustrating il
by the story Of the martyr Stephen. His
text was:
Behold, see the heavens open, and the Son
Of Man standing on the right hand of God.
Then they cried out with loud voice, and
stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one
accord.
And cast him out of the city and stoned him
and the witnesses laid down their clothes at q
young mans feet whose name was Saul
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God,
and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down and cried with a loud
voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep
lActs, vii, $500.
Stephen had been preaching rousing
sermon, and the people could not stand it.
They resolved to do as men sometimes
would like to do to this day, if they dared,
with some plain preacher of righteous
uess-kill him. The only way to silence
this man was to knock the breath out of
him. So they rushed stephen out of the
gates Of the city, and with curse,
and whoop, and below they brought
him to the cliff, as was the
custom when they wanted to take away
life by stoning. Having brought him to
the edge Of the Cliff they pushed him of.
After he had fallen they came and looked
down, and seeing that he was not dead.
they began to drop stones upon him, stone
after stone, stone after stone. Amid this
horrible rain of missiles Stephen clam
bers up on his knees and folds his hands,
while the blood drips from his temples to
his cheeks, from his cheeks to his gar
ments, from his garments to the ground; ;
and then, looking up, he makes two pray
ers-one for himself and one for his muir
derers:
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
That was for himself
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge
That was for his assailants. Then, from
pain and loss Of blood, he swooned aw az
and fell asleep.
want to show you to dav five pictures |;
Stephen gazing Into Heaven; Steph en-
looking at Christ; Stephen stoned !;
stephen in his dying prayer; Stephe n
asleep.
First, look at Stephen gazing into
Heaven. Before you take a lean, you
want to know where you are going to
land. Before you climb q ladder, YOU
want to know to what point the ladder
reaches. And it was right that Stephen.
within Q few moments of Heaven, should
be gazing into it. We woull all do well
to be found in the same posture A man
OF large wealth may have statuary in the
hall and paintings in the sitting-room. and
works OF art in all parts Of the house, but
ne has chief pictures in the art gallery,
and there, hour after hour, you walk with
catalogue and glass and ever increasing
admiration. Well, Heaven is the gallery
where God has altered the chief treas
ures OF his realm. The whole universe is
his palace. In this lower room where
we we stop there are many adoru-
ments-tessellated floor OF ameshyst and
blossom, and on the winding cloud-stair $
are stretched ont canvas on which com.
mingle azure, and purple, and SAT- ron.
and gold. But Heaven is the gallery in
which the chief glories are gathered.
There are the brightest robes There are
the richest crowns. There are the high
est exhilarations. John says Of it:
The kings Of the earth shall bring their honor
and glory into it.
And l see the procession forming. and
IN the line come all empires, and the stars
spring up into an arch for the hosts to.
march under. They keep step to the
sound Of earthquake and the pitch of
avalanche from the mountains, and the
dag they bear is the fame Of a consuming
world, and all Heaven turns out with
harps and trumpets and myriad voiced
acciamation Of angelic dominion to well
come them in, and so the kings of the
earth bring their honor and glory into it.
Do you wonder that good people often
stand like Stephen, looking into Heavene
We nave great many friends there.
There 10 not q man in this house TODAY 40
isolated la life but there is some one in
heaven with whom he once shook hands.
AS man gets older, the number of his
celestial acquaintances very RAPIDLY
multiplies. We have not had one elimpse
OF them since the night we kissed them
goodbye and they went away, but still
we stand gaxing into Heaven. As when
some OF our friends go across the sea. we
stand on the deck, or on the steam ting.
and watch them, and after awhile the
hull OF the vessel disappears, and then
there IL only patch Of sail on the skv.
and soon that is gone, and they are all out
Of sight, and yet we stani looking in the
same direction; so when our friends 90
away from US into the future world
We keep looking down through
the narrows, and gazing and gazing as
though we expected they would come
out and stand on some evening cloud. and
give Us one glimpse Of their blissful snd
faces.
While you long to join their comp anion-
ship and the years and the days 90 with
such tedium that they break your heart.
and the viper Of pain and sorrow and
bereavement keeps gnawing at your
vltals, you still stand, like Stephen, eaz-
ing into Heaven. You wonder if thew
have changed since you saw them last
Z on wonder il they would recognise your
lace now, 50 changed has it been with
trouble. Xou wonder if, amid the
myriad delights they have, they care "a
much for you as thoy used to when thew
rave you helping hand, and put their
.noulder under your burdens. You won
Ter II they look any older; and some
imess in the evening-tide, when the
louise Is all quiet you wonder il Won
mould call them by their first name If
hey would not answer; and perha ps
ome tirae you do mako tho exp erin emit